


Hiding an Illness

by Pippyville



Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers: Prime, Transformers: Shattered Glass
Genre: Bad Things Happen Bingo, Sickfic, This is shattered glass TFP style, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-13
Updated: 2020-06-13
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:47:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24697045
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pippyville/pseuds/Pippyville
Summary: Based off of the "Hiding an illness" prompt on the bad things happen bingo, requested by an anon for Shattered Glass! Starscream.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 41





	Hiding an Illness

Starscream shivered, curling into himself. He had felt terrible for two days now, he could feel his temperature going up, and he knew he had to keep it to himself. If he let the others know, it would distract them from their missions, distract them from the war.

He closed his eyes and counted to ten, letting himself have those precious seconds of rest before he uncurled and stood. He checked himself in the mirror of his room, making sure he looked okay. He was slightly wobbly, but that didn’t matter much. He still shivered, but he was known for being anxious, so he could pass it off as a bad dream. 

His comm link pinged, making him jump as Megatron’s voice filled his audio receptors “Starscream, we’ve found an energon mine and we’re heading out to scout it.” 

“I’ll be there right away.” Starscream told him, wincing as he heard his voice crack a little. Megatron didn’t seem to notice.

Starscream sighed and stood straighter, making himself seem less tired and headed out. 

The groundbridge was open when he got there, and the bright green light hurt his head. He wanted to go back to his room and hide, but he had a job to do. Airachnid and Breakdown had both been hurt during the previous mission, and Knockout had to man the groundbridge, leaving only Starscream, Megatron, and Soundwave for missions.

“Ah, Starscream. You’re here.” Megatron noticed his friend, beckoning him forward, “Soundwave found an energon mine, we’re going to go see if it’s overrun by Autobots.”

“Sounds great.” Starscream forced a smile as his head pounded. 

“Let’s do this!” Soundwave pumped his fist in the air, transforming into his car mode.

“Decepticons, head out!” Megatron pointed at the groundbridge, also transforming into his tank mode. 

Starscream walked through the bridge, knowing his jet mode would cause too much trouble. The other two followed, then Knockout turned off the bridge and waited.

Starscream was hit by a blast of hot air as he exited the groundbridge. It felt nice, but he knew it couldn’t be good for his fever. He ignored it, instead following Megatron as he readied his gun and looked over the edge of the energon mine. Autobot’s swarmed the area, the drones already half-finished packing up the mounds of energon lying around. Megatron cursed and said, “We’re outnumbered ten to one. We need to go back.”

“They’re just drones, bossbot. We can take 'em.” Soundwave said, pointing. 

“While they may be drones, there are still far too many of them. Starscream, contact base and have them ready the groundbridge.”

Starscream nodded, his spark lifting at the thought of not needing to fight. He just started to press his digit to his audio receptors when they heard a voice behind them. 

“Well well, look what we have here!” the drone behind them snarled, “Three little Decepticons, all by yourselves!” it shot at them, making Starscream yelp and roll away. The three Decepticons stood and rushed him. 

The rest of the drones stopped what they were doing as they heard fighting above them. “Attack!” their squad leader commanded. All of the drones dropped what they were doing and ran, shooting at the small group.

“Starscream, transform and attack from the air!” Megatron told the seeker. Starscream nodded, jumping into the air to transform. 

Immediately he felt dizzy, but he tried to push through it. He fired at the Autobot drones, but his aim was sloppy and poor. He felt a shot land on his wing and stifled a yelp of pain. He fired back at the drone, but it dodged and the missile hit the energon instead. Starscream barely had time to warn Soundwave and Megatron before the mine exploded, catching Starscream in the air. The pain made Starscream transform mid-flight, and he felt darkness start to encompass him. 

The explosion had evened the odds, and Megatron and Soundwave managed to defeat the rest of the drones fairly quickly. Soundwave turned his optics to the sky and gasped, “Megatron, look!”

Megatron looked up as well and was shocked to see an unconscious Starscream falling through the air. “Starscream!” He lunged, just managing to catch the smaller bot before he crashed to the ground. He gently shook the seeker, but Starscream didn’t respond. “Starscream? He’s out cold. Call Knockout for a-wait a second.”

Soundwave crouched down next to the two bots, “What is it bossbot?”

“Does he feel...warm to you?” 

Soundwave placed a servo on Starscream’s neck cables and drew in a quick vent. “He’s burning up.”

“Let’s get him back to base. Knockout?” Megatron activated his comm link, “Open a groundbridge and prepare a medical berth. Something’s wrong with Starscream.”

Megatron gently lowered Starscream onto the berth as Knockout stood in wait. He nodded to the medic, who mirrored Soundwave’s previous action and checked his temperature. He frowned, “Starscream definitely has a fever, but something like this doesn’t just happen within the span of an hour. He must have been feeling scrappy for days.”

“Why wouldn’t he tell us something like that?” Soundwave asked, concerned for his friend.

“Oh you know how Starscream is.” Arachnid said from across the room on her own berth, “He’d die if it meant helping out. He probably didn’t wanna seem weak or something.”

“Is he gonna be okay?” Breakdown asked. 

“He’ll be fine, it’s just a fever.” Knockout scanned Starscream, mumbling under his breath “Stubborn aft.” he reached over for the cooling tubes and started to attach them to the seeker’s chassis. 

The seeker groaned, opening his optics a little, then gasping and squeezing the shut as the light made his helm pound. Soundwave placed his servo in Starscream’s and the seeker squeezed it tight against the pain. “Star, are you alright?” Starscream nodded, although his tighty screwed optics said otherwise. Knockout went over and dimmed the lights, and Starscream carefully opened his optics to look at his leader.

“Hi.” His voice was raspy. 

“Hi.” Megatron raised an eyebrow, a disapproving look on his faceplates, “Why didn’t you tell me you were sick?”

“Um…” Starscream coughed, “I didn’t think it was bad?”

“Starscream you’re literally starting to turn gray.” Soundwave made a clicking noise, as if in disbelief. “Don’t give us that scrap.”

“Sorry…” Starscream shivered, wrapping his arms around himself the best he could with the tubes on him. “C-Could we take these off?”

“No can do.” Knockout pointed at him, “You pushed yourself too far.”

Starscream looked down, his optics sad. “I...I’m sorry.”

Megatron sighed, “It’s alright, Starscream. Just make sure you tell us the next time you feel sick, okay?”

Starscream nodded. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“Catching m-me.”

Megatron smiled, “Of course. Now try and get some rest and you’ll be better in no time.”

Starscream looked at Knockout, who nodded in confirmation, “You’ll get better, it’s nothing serious.”

Starscream felt his optics grow heavy and his grip loosened on Soundwave’s servo. “I’ll just...recharge then…” 

“Night Star.” Soundwave squeezed his digits before letting go. Knockout shooed the well bots out of the medbay, a slight frown on his face. His features softened when they looked at the sleeping seeker.

“Get better soon.” he said, turning to his data pads.


End file.
